What's next for Fuhr? Dow Jones claims that she "is understood to be still working at BlackRock," while a BlackRock spokeswoman reportedly told P&I that Fuhr "is resigning to pursue other opportunities." And IndexUniverse, citing anonymous sources, claims that Fuhr left to take another gig "within the ETF industry."

BlackRock unveiled the new institute back in April and brought on board McKinsey alum Lee Kempler to lead it. The ETF giant will reportedly not be replacing Fuhr, with the "ETF research agenda" now being led by iShares' [see profile] global chief investment strategist, Russ Koesterich.

Fuhr, a former Morgan Stanley managing director, joined Barclays Global Investors in 2008, and BlackRock bought BGI in 2009.&nbsp